EL, I have no desire to fight with you over this, my friend. I can tell you that until one tries to comply with federal & state employment laws and tax burdens, it is an impossibility to comprehend. It put me under once. I have begged for a job at the very bottom, and climbed to the top, and begged for chances along the way. I've had some advantage and help along the way, but there was never a thing given to me, and I know so many who have done as well or better under much tougher circumstances.
But that aside, much like they used to tell us at my burger flipping job "If there's time to lean, there's time to clean".... if there's time to complain about it, there is time to knock on one more door. Every opportunity begins with a first impression. Make it GREAT, and when someone gives you that chance, do that job like your life depended on it, and keep moving. Most "Luck" is just an opportunity that someone made the best of, and most people are exactly where they are in life because they choose to be there.
I will not deny that this is a very difficult environment for employment opportunities. It is. Employers are trying to do as much as they can with the people they presently have on staff, but there are jobs available, even if not in one's chosen educational field. Every job I've ever had has been a blessing. I did not like some of them, but I was blessed by them and fortunate to have had the experience and the opportunity. The road to where I am today was not paved in gold, silver or even asphalt. Sometimes there was no road at all. But I laid stones where needed, and made the best of every situation and when the opportunity arrived, I begged for it, and I kicked it's ass. I have white, indian and black friends who's stories may be different, but yet they are the same.
But that's just a bunch of blah, blah, blah... the fact is that employment regulations are designed to favor big business, unions, and to be a huge hurdle to start-up companies. Ask any sole proprietor that's trying to comply. It's why so many try to skirt the laws by utilizing "subs" that they can 1099 instead of employees that get a W-2. Life is much easier if you can put the tax burden on the individual.
There would be a full-on revolt in this country if every employee was paid the full value of their employment taxes, including all Employer matching funds, worker's comp and other state taxes they never see on a check stub, and had to send in their own taxes after receiving their gross pay. So many people have become complacent over the money stolen from them that they don't even know what their "gross" pay is. It's a pity that our populace has taken it so lightly. The simple truth is that it's not about the money, it's about the compliance. There is no such thing as a tax on business. Politicians use business taxes to dupe the public. Any tax that is levied against business is simply passed on as a cost of doing business. In the end, the consumer pays it ALL. Or else the business folds. The people of this country are sucking on a giant government lollipop with no flavor, no nourishment, and being told it's good for them. To many have started to believe it.
I shall now go and tell all my black friends to give up, they can't do it.
Pantsman, I hope things turn soon, but I don't have a lot of good hope for our economy. Your generation, my two son's generation, is going to see some real tough times I fear. Look to construction, manual labor, factory work, shovelling shit in a dairy barn... You never know which job is just a stepping stone to something, or SOMEONE, better. Real opportunity and advancement is often more about the relationships you form at the bottom of the ladder, and proving that you are good in the trenches. People that promote take note of those with a good attitude toward the lower end positions. Kinda like the old proverb "Those that can be trusted with little, can be trusted with much".
A government job might be a temporary fix, but it's a hard mold to get out of once you get in it. A job that pushes people to strive for mediocrity will never bring you long lasting satisfaction.
Go get'em.
